Your humble statistician made his first trip to VRH to view the action there first hand with a Wednesday session. The night before the session, I went to Ambleside Park to eye the rink and see it for myself. The dimensions are similar to the Burton Hall, just without all the crap around the edges; thus providing a bit more room and making it perfect for 3-on-3. The east side of the court is right up against a building, so you have one giant wall; the other three sides are chain-link just over one metre high. Fortunately, the smaller dimension of Ambleside means that there aren't that many booming slapshots. The nets are probably 15% larger than at McCormack in Burton and are comparable to the nets in Fauquier. The session itself was jam-packed, with the usual pack of V regulars, plus the addition of Seamus, who was in the town he previous night for the Tool concert and was convinced to stay late on Wednesday to play. Stefan and Bernie had also gone to the concert, so their stamina was also in question. The happy side of things saw Lorne purchasing a second full set of goaltending equipment, which, once everyone chipped in, was actually pretty inexpensive when divvied between six people.

Eight games of session goodness were had this night. There were only a few hitches- Stefan being bullied into strapping on the olds pads and go into the net, some soccer kids trying to take the court halfway through the session, and a dithering old man stealing our water bottles for bottle money, even if they were full. The first session saw Dorian, Bernie and Seamus with Lorne in net take a 2-0 series win over Joern, Andrew, Tony and Stef. Andrew and Tony had a bit of a hard time getting going; it took them a couple of games to get into the groove. Meanwhile, the opposing trio lit the first series up. Seamus, in particular, was destroying the session, factoring in on 14 of the first 15 goals. After the recent slump in BUSH, getting together with the old gang in VRH really made him want to play well. The Seamus/Dorian tandem was certainly a recurring feature of the day. Bernie was also surprisingly mobile, and it showed on the score sheet.
It was decided the team were a bit lopsided, so Dorian was switched for Tony, and the session instantly got competitive. Both team really clicked well. Andrew and Joern, in particular, really found a groove together, with Andrew notching four consecutive goals in the first game. Tony's hockey legs shook off the rust and he and Seamus hooked up for some nice 2-on-1's. Bernie, having gone to bed at 4 am, hit the wall halfway through this series and was not the same. The goalies were great. I can now attest firsthand that statistical difference in net between BUSH and VRH is only due to net size, and perhaps equipment size. Both Klopp and Lorne made amazing saves throughout the session. With the second series tied a game apiece, the turning point in the final game was one of the more amazing goals we've seen in Burton- Lorne, taking a slapshot from his net with a goalie stick and blasting it all the way across the court past Stefan for a goal. Bern-Seam-Tone-Lorne would take the series.
Suddenly, it was getting really dark, really quick. There was maybe 15 seconds of discussion before it was decided to switch goalies and play another series. Joern really took over here with big shots and sweet passes to Dor and Andrew. And let's give a shout out here to Dorian, who was very understated but effective the whole session with excellent two-way play. Andrew just got better and better as the night went on. With the light fading, Bernie had had enough after seven games and took off his skates for the last one, leaving it 3-on-2. Indeed, Andrew, Joern, Dorian and Lorne won the final series 2-1.

What a session! Other than Bernie, the effects of the late night after the Tool show really weren't seen on court. In fact, play got better as the session went on. Everyone really enjoyed the evening, and this will probably help more VRH session get organized. Seamus was the first star of the day, scoring 17 goals and adding 9 assists for his highest-scoring session of the year. Despite losing the edge on his wheels and sliding to the pavement numerous times, Dorian was very effective, with 9 goals and 12 assists. Joern was the king of set-up plays this day with 5 goals and 13 assists. All players got into double-digits. Lorne led in net with .739, and Stefan was far better than his .649 would indicate in this extremely fast, exciting session.

Useless Stats: Well, Seamus narrows the gap to Lee down to 66 points. Bernie passes 100 points, and Joern moves into the top 10. Seamus is one assist behind Oliver for second at100. Joern reaches 50 assists. Seamus actually takes the lead in games played (95) this year over Lee (91), but this is due to Seamus playing this extra session in VRH. Lee, Joern and Stefan are still the only people to play all games in a league this year, having contested all 91 BUSH games and all 59 VRH games respectively. Seamus' 26 points rank fourth-highest in a session this year, as do his 17 goals. Joern's 13 assists tie for fifth-highest. Lee's reign atop the SDF continues unhindered as Joern shoots up to fourth; Lee has now been on top eleven different times, the third-most ever. Stefan shoots up to fourth on the GDF as Nathan stays on top.

On the all-time front: Joern passes Laird for eight in points. Seamus passes 400 goals and ties Oliver for third all-time. Bernie passes K.J. for seventh in goals. Joern passes Robert for eleventh in goals and reaches 200 goals. Bernie passes 400 assists. Joern passes Laird for seventh in assists. Seamus' 132 goals rank fifth-most in a single season; his 120 three-star points rank third all-time for a single season. Seamus now has the third-most ten-goal sessions with 19, behind Lorne and Lee. He passes Oliver for third in 15-pointers, and ties Lee for third in 25-pointers behind Lorne and Robert. Dorian records his first 15 and 20-pointers. Tony gets his first 15-pointer. Joern plays his 13th consecutive session, Seamus his 11th, and Stefan his tenth. Check out the Records and Honours page before you go.